Lot 60 | Antoni Tàpies | Hieroglyphics No. LXXIV

Structure and earthy materiality in painting
The Catalan Antoni Tàpies—painter, sculptor, and object artist—has shaped Spanish Informel like no other. After briefly studying law at the University of Barcelona, he turned to painting in 1946, largely as a self-taught artist. Success soon followed: in 1950, he held his first solo exhibition in Barcelona, followed a few years later by a presentation at Martha Jackson's gallery in New York and participation in the São Paulo Biennial. In 1954, Tàpies was represented at the Venice Biennale for the first time, and four years later he gained international recognition there as Spain's representative.
The artist's affinity for rough, textured, earthy surfaces became apparent early on when he began working with mixed media and placed the tactile image surface at the center of his painting. “After all, ever since my first works as a young man, I had constantly felt the urge to use earthy materials,” the artist wrote in his memoirs, “and from the very beginning, I had always been primarily concerned with creating an expressive texture, an expressive structure of the painted forms.” (Antoni Tàpies, quoted from Tàpies, Antoni: Memoirs, St. Gallen 1988, vol. 2, p. 176)

Symbolic signs – like relics of a bygone era
Tàpies' painting “Hieroglyphics” from 1958-62 initially captivates with its composition of large-scale surfaces, but at second glance reveals a remarkable complexity – a network of fine traces, notches, and subtle textures. Warm, earthy ochre tones refer to clay, sand, or aged stone surfaces, while dark, almost black areas create striking contrasts. The dominant light area of the painting appears like a fragment of an old wall or an archaic clay tablet, its scarred surface marked by both time and weather. Numerous symbolic incisions are reminiscent of the hieroglyphics of ancient Egyptian art – like mysterious, indecipherable signs of an ancient, long-silent language.
“Hieroglyphics” appears like a relic of times past, a lost era, a forgotten advanced civilization. Tàpies' unmistakable signature is revealed in the convincing combination of material and symbols: the tablet becomes a carrier of memory, the symbols bear witness to the existence of man, who has engraved and left his traces. Antoni Tàpies' work is a silent homage to the materiality and deep, meditative power of painting.
Doris Hansmann